calgary anyone?!?!?!? - Page 2

hussein · 02-01-2006, 02:33 PM

dont let the thread die!!!!!! albertans!!!!!! answerrrrrrrrrr!!

yamathegreat · 02-02-2006, 03:12 AM

well im still up for it although i sorta took apart my car... if someone broke in they would be very disapointed lol

hussein · 02-05-2006, 12:10 AM

hahaha, you got any pics?

hussein · 02-05-2006, 11:56 PM

I am going to *for sure* 99% be in calgary on the following days:
Friday late afternoon of the 17th, during the day of the 18th, and morning of the 19th.
Saturday morning, the 18th, works best for me.

yamathegreat · 02-07-2006, 02:09 AM

lol ya ill take some pics and post em for you latter. right now i have no dash no console no pasanger seat and the back of my truck has 100ft of garden hose lol it would almost be fun to see someone break in.

and thats just plane bad luck! since my last post ive goten sick of this mild winter weather (still right around 0C) and decided to goto florida so i leave on the 17th and get back on the 2nd lol.

hussein · 02-07-2006, 03:23 PM

hahah aight, well that should be fun.

holla when your back. have a good trip!

hussein · 03-13-2006, 05:06 PM

bump.

might be moving there in april!

any news?

nobb · 10-18-2006, 07:27 PM

Hi
I am from Calgary too and I just installed my carputer. Winter time is coming, and I am just curious as to how your systems deal with the winter temperature. Have you guys done any modifications to deal with the cold? It gets down to -40 C here and I am unsure as to how my carputer will handle the cold.

Jackboot · 10-19-2006, 03:40 PM

I am running my install off of an Extreme III compact flash card so it is cold-proof (no moving parts).

nobb · 10-19-2006, 07:01 PM

A memory card won't be able to hold all my music. Also, I forgot to ask. How is your LCD handling the cold? In the winter, do you wait for the cabin to fully warm before using it?

Jackboot · 10-20-2006, 07:20 PM

The memory card only holds the operating system. All music is held on an external drive (2.5" hard drive or MP3 player) that is brought inside when leaving the vehicle out in the cold. I have 80GB of music/movies on mine. If you already have an MP3 player this is an ideal option.

A 1GB Sandisk Extreme III card is fast and good for extreme cold temperatures. I do a cold boot in under 30 seconds. 1GB easily holds an OS (my XP install only takes up just half of the card). This card can now be had for ~$50-$60 USD. An IDE->CF interface can be had for ~$10 or so. IMO this is your only option if you want to have a reliable CarPC for half the year. What other option is there for a cold-proof install? I'm not aware of one.

The LCD has handled the cold without a problem. It is slow to respond initially but within a couple of minutes doesn't hesitate. I have a Xenarc.

I'm also at the university in my last year of undergrad

Edit: One other option is to boot from a USB drive. I didn't go this route b/c my motherboard cannot boot from USB.

nobb · 10-20-2006, 11:28 PM

I think Ill just take my chances with my hard drive based setup for now. I actually built a 60 watt heater for my two drives, so I figure Ill just turn that on while I am scraping the snow off my car. Hopefully this will work so I wont have to go the CF card route. I have a ton of hard drives lying around, so if a few fail, its no big deal. IMO, swapping drives everytime I get in the car seems like a hassle.

Btw...you are probably in engineering right?

Jackboot · 10-21-2006, 11:56 AM

FWIW I assure you that your CarPC won't boot when it is below freezing at least until the drive has warmed up to approx 0 degrees. A constant freezing/heating of the "fluid liquid bearings" will likely cause the HD to fail quickly.

For me, part of the justification of having a CarPC is having 100% uptime just like a regular CD player would. This won't be possible with a HD based PC in freezing temperatures.

If you do go the CF route, you don't have to "swap" drives ever - you just plug in your portable media drive to a USB cable that you have extending from the PC in the trunk to the front console area. The CF card stays installed in the PC in the trunk. Think of plugging the portable media drive in as putting a CD in whenever you get in the car

Of course in the warmer months this means that you just leave the media drive plugged in full-time if you want. Another advantage to this type of install is that you can easily take all your media inside to synch/update.

I am actually a Sociology major...so, social engineering?

hussein · 11-07-2006, 06:38 PM

niiiice I go to the uni also. my hdd died at the end of summer haha, maybe during x-mas when I have time I will check out the CF stuff.

nobb · 11-07-2006, 06:57 PM

Wow another UCer? What year and faculty?

Also, the CF route does not seem to be that great of an idea. Do a search on the Hitachi Endurastar series or the Seagate EE25 series. They are automotive grade drives which can withstand the temperature extremes. They cost as much as getting a CF but store way more, plus you wont have to set them up as write only.